'Operation Deep-Freeze' was one of two 'Champions' episodes to be scripted by Gerald Kelsey, the other being 'The Final Countdown'.
It opens with a mini-documentary about Antarctica ( narrated by David Bauer ), informing the audience of the continent's value as a place of international co-operation and scientific research. Before David Attenborough can appear, a shot of an atomic explosion fills the screen. After the credits, we get another of those lovely self-contained scenes featuring one or more of the Champions. Here its Richard Barrett ( William Gaunt ) whose superhuman senses alert him that a child is about to kick a football his way when he is out driving in ( it looks like ) Italy. Braking hard, Barrett watches the girl retrieve the ball ( how John Drake could have benefited from such a power at the start of the 'Danger Man' story 'The Ubitiquous Mr.Lovegrove' ). At NEMESIS H.Q., Tremayne tells the Champs that a team of scientists went out to investigate the mysterious Antarctic explosion, but did not return, and two search parties have also vanished. Sharron does not go on this mission - this is ( as Sean Connery's Bond ) would say 'man's work'. In the company of a guide named 'Hemmings' ( Robert Urquhart ), Craig and Richard travel across miles of inhospitable icy terrain until they reach their objective. Barrett's telepathic powers reveal the location of one of the earlier search parties - its members have been shot and their bodies buried under snow. Barrett also senses they are being watched...
Quite a good story. Patrick Wymark - then a big star on British television thanks to 'The Power Game' - plays 'General Gomez', the power-crazed leader of a small South American country which wishes to become a world power through the acquisition of atomic weapons. He uses the following analogy: "A little man with a gun is just as deadly as a big man with a gun.". Whether by accident or design, Kelsey has fashioned a decent argument against the Arms Race. If we can have The Bomb, why not every other country too? Including the ones that do not have democracy.
Some familiar faces in the cast - Peter Arne as 'Margoli' and Walter Gotell as 'Captain Jost' - the men who stalk Barrett and Stirling across the icy wastes. The latter will be familiar to 007 fans for his role as 'General Gogol' in the Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton movies. George Purcell - veteran of Hammer's 'Mummy' films - is seen briefly as 'Colonel Santos'. I say briefly because he blows his brains out after the misfiring of an atomic shell alerts the rest of the world to the fact his country has broken a nuclear test treaty. Robert Urguhart is wasted as the Champs' guide though.
The story climaxes with Richard and Craig surviving a spell in a deep-freezer, and then leaving the base by sled just before a time-fuse detonates the arsenal of atomic bombs. Though still inside the radiation area, our heroes survive. Richard announces his intention to go on a skiing holiday.
As previously noted, there's not much of Sharron. Her main contribution to the plot is to urge Tremayne to send a rescue team out to get her friends. When he refuses, she does it for him. Antarctica is represented by a combination of documentary stock footage and newly-shot scenes. Yes, the sets are not terribly convincing ( you can't see anyone's breath for one thing ), but anyone expecting them to have filmed in the real South Pole is a fool.
It opens with a mini-documentary about Antarctica ( narrated by David Bauer ), informing the audience of the continent's value as a place of international co-operation and scientific research. Before David Attenborough can appear, a shot of an atomic explosion fills the screen. After the credits, we get another of those lovely self-contained scenes featuring one or more of the Champions. Here its Richard Barrett ( William Gaunt ) whose superhuman senses alert him that a child is about to kick a football his way when he is out driving in ( it looks like ) Italy. Braking hard, Barrett watches the girl retrieve the ball ( how John Drake could have benefited from such a power at the start of the 'Danger Man' story 'The Ubitiquous Mr.Lovegrove' ). At NEMESIS H.Q., Tremayne tells the Champs that a team of scientists went out to investigate the mysterious Antarctic explosion, but did not return, and two search parties have also vanished. Sharron does not go on this mission - this is ( as Sean Connery's Bond ) would say 'man's work'. In the company of a guide named 'Hemmings' ( Robert Urquhart ), Craig and Richard travel across miles of inhospitable icy terrain until they reach their objective. Barrett's telepathic powers reveal the location of one of the earlier search parties - its members have been shot and their bodies buried under snow. Barrett also senses they are being watched...
Quite a good story. Patrick Wymark - then a big star on British television thanks to 'The Power Game' - plays 'General Gomez', the power-crazed leader of a small South American country which wishes to become a world power through the acquisition of atomic weapons. He uses the following analogy: "A little man with a gun is just as deadly as a big man with a gun.". Whether by accident or design, Kelsey has fashioned a decent argument against the Arms Race. If we can have The Bomb, why not every other country too? Including the ones that do not have democracy.
Some familiar faces in the cast - Peter Arne as 'Margoli' and Walter Gotell as 'Captain Jost' - the men who stalk Barrett and Stirling across the icy wastes. The latter will be familiar to 007 fans for his role as 'General Gogol' in the Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton movies. George Purcell - veteran of Hammer's 'Mummy' films - is seen briefly as 'Colonel Santos'. I say briefly because he blows his brains out after the misfiring of an atomic shell alerts the rest of the world to the fact his country has broken a nuclear test treaty. Robert Urguhart is wasted as the Champs' guide though.
The story climaxes with Richard and Craig surviving a spell in a deep-freezer, and then leaving the base by sled just before a time-fuse detonates the arsenal of atomic bombs. Though still inside the radiation area, our heroes survive. Richard announces his intention to go on a skiing holiday.
As previously noted, there's not much of Sharron. Her main contribution to the plot is to urge Tremayne to send a rescue team out to get her friends. When he refuses, she does it for him. Antarctica is represented by a combination of documentary stock footage and newly-shot scenes. Yes, the sets are not terribly convincing ( you can't see anyone's breath for one thing ), but anyone expecting them to have filmed in the real South Pole is a fool.
